[mfblume]

The church was intended by God to be the natural progression for Israel that God intended after Law passed away when Jesus came and died. This nullifies the Disp thought that God blinded Israel until the church is raptured away, and that the church is overlooked in the OT prophets. I see the church everywhere in the OT prophets.

Since Gal 3 teaches that the promises were only made to Abraham and his Seed, which is Christ, not to anybody else, and since those baptized into Christ are then made Abraham's seed, then only in the church are any promises to Israel available to be fulfilled.

Galatians 3:16 KJV Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Galatians 3:23-29 KJV But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. (24) Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (25) But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (26) For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (27) For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (29) And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I am unsure of how Romans 11 works for Israel.

Romans 11:25-26 KJV For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (26) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

I know that Ezekiel 18 teaches that God does not judge anyone for their parents' sins, and we read that God blinded Israel in the first century for rejecting Christ.

Ezekiel 18:1-9 KJV The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, (2) What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? (3) As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. (4) Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (5) But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, (6) And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, (7) And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; (8) He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, (9) Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

To me, it can only mean that judgment was only on the people of that generation in Christ's day. So, since Romans 11 was written while that generation still lived, we understand it was still a future thing for the salvation for Israel to occur. And the influx of Jews into the church would occur after that generation passed away with the first century judgment. This might mean only after the generation who sinned passed away that all Israel is open for salvation. Before this point, only the remnant were saved, including Paul and the others. But after this point it seems salvation is simply OPENED to all Israel.

And when we read Romans 10, we read Israel must obey the word of truth that Paul preached. Connect that with Deut 30 and Gal 3, and it seems to show that the promise for regathering to the land can only occur if they obey THE WORD of faith Paul preached.

Romans 10:8-9 KJV But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Deuteronomy 30:1-3 KJV And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, (2) And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; (3) That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 KJV (11) For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. (12) It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? (13) Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? (14) But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

Furthermore, regarding the land, Abraham looked for a greater land than the middle east in which he dwelt.

Hebrews 11:14-16 KJV For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. (15) And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. (16) But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

And Heb 12:22 says the church is the Heavenly Jerusalem! A better country.

Hebrews 12:22 KJV But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

So I see no future promise for Israel other than what is inside the church. The church is called Heavenly Jerusalem and Mount Zion. Everything literally on the earth in the sense of a nation and country, like Israel, Zion and Jerusalem, is applied to the church in the New Testament. I feel this is trying to tell us that the land was only a type and shadow of the reality that is the church. And I think it may be a carnalizing of these things that causes disp teachings to cling to a physical version alone.

After all, it seems the reference below is towards a principle that the natural comes first and then the spiritual. Instead of simply saying the natural Adam and body comes before the spiritual Adam and body, Paul spoke a sort of principle of natural coming before the spiritual that seems to be precisely the case with Israel and Zion and Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 15:46 KJV (46) Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.